Campaign to Save Brooklyn Heights’ Anchor on News 12 Brooklyn

This evening News 12 Brooklyn had among its top Brooklyn stories a report about efforts to save the anchor now located in front of 76 Montague Street and move it to a nearby location, such as the area near the flagpole at the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade. According to the text accompanying the video:

Residents Brendan and Devan Spearo say they don’t want to see the anchor cast away into the trash, so they are leading a charge to move the anchor somewhere else nearby, like the promenade that overlooks the East River.

The Spearos are quoted as saying the owner of Friend of a Farmer, the restaurant that is moving into 76 Montague and needs the space now occupied by the anchor for outdoor seating, has been “very supportive.”

The news announcer makes one inaccurate statement: the anchor has not “been in the community for centuries.” It was placed in front of 76 Montague in 1981, when its owner, Wolf Spille, who had rescued it from a shipbreaker’s yard on Staten Island, opened his ship brokerage business there. The anchor, according to Mr. Spille, dates from sometime between 1830 and 1860, and once served on a sailing ship.